Xbox player dies from blood clot

[chrisrlink]

The family of a budding computer programmer have on Saturday launched a campaign to raise awareness about the health risks of playing online computer games after their son died following a marathon session on his Xbox.

A post-mortem revealed that 20-year-old Chris Staniforth -- who was offered a place to study Game Design at Leicester University -- was killed by a pulmonary embolism, which can occur if someone sits in the same position for several hours.

Xbox 360 controller Deep vein thrombosis normally affects passengers on long-haul flights, but medical experts fear youngsters who spend hours glued to their consoles might also be at risk and have urged them to take regular breaks.

Professor Brian Colvin -- an expert on blood-related conditions -- said it was "unhealthy" for youngsters to spend long periods in front of their consoles.

"There's anxiety about obesity and children not doing anything other than looking at computer screens," he told The Sun.

David Staniforth has now launched a campaign to warn other parents of the dangers.

"Games are fun and once you've started playing it's hard to stop.

"Kids all over the country are playing these games for long periods - they don't realise it could kill them," he told The Sun.

A coroner's court in Sheffield was told how the youngster -- who had no underlying medical conditions -- was complaining of a low heart rate before collapsing outside a Jobcentre.

Staniforth's distraught father said his son would spend up to 12 hours playing on his Xbox.

"He got sucked in playing Halo online against people from all over the world."

Online computer games are extremely popular as thousands interact in shared science fiction worlds.

Reports of gamers collapsing after spending 15 hours in front of video games are fairly common throughout Asia.

In 2005, a South Korean gamer died after playing online games for three days without taking a break.

Microsoft -- which manufactures the Xbox -- said it "recommend gamers take breaks to exercise as well as make time for other pursuits."
source

 

[ThePowerOutage]

...the health risks of playing online computer games...

There is only a health risk if your an idiot

 

[chrisrlink]

i hope this guy wasnt a temper

 

[Pong20302000]

same types of clots can occur on building sites

should of sat properly rather than been sitting like a idiot

 

[Thesolcity]

I don't know why, but I imagined some organization putting obscene/disturbing pictures on video game boxes just like the ones on cigarette packs now for "the safety of the people".

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Wow, how long did he sit in the same position o.o.
Damn, thats sad.

 

[cwstjdenobs]

...the health risks of playing online computer games...

There is only a health risk if your an idiot

Errm, maybe not. There are a few conditions that can cause seemingly healthy young people to drop dead of random heart attacks. That is generally the first clue they had a problem. It wouldn't surprise me if those sort of conditions could also make you more prone to clotting problems as well.

Though I'm sure if I've got that majorly wrong someone will let us know.

 

[chrisrlink]

Wow, how long did he sit in the same position o.o.
Damn, thats sad.

i agree i only play1-2 hours at a time he must have played 4-5 hours straight at least

 

[RoyalCardMan]

Well, what disturbes me the most is they never tell about his health history.

Did he have any problems with his heart? Did he ever have an illness that could have been inflicted with this situation?

People are different, and I think they are just trying to get something out of someone dying from a video game. The thing is, it isn't the video game that causes the death, it is the environment and different "variables".

So, these studies are not very valid.

 

[Tonitonichopchop]

I agree with RoyalCardMan, there are too many other factors that can cause death to know if the cause was him sitting in the same position for so long or something else. The video game manufacturers have health warnings for how long you should play anyway so I don't see anything bad arising from this.

 

[Telal]

I've spent hour upon hours playing video games since I was three. From five hour stints of Defender to 10-20 hours playing FF3 or FF7. Still to this day I can play 20 hour marathons without any sort of problems whatsoever. My brother on the other hand is an active person and gets blood clots pretty often.
I'm not saying that the sitting still had nothing to do with it, I just think that people need to realize that correlation does not necessarily equal causation.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Guys, some medical knowledge - to die from a pulmonary embolism from just sitting there, you have to sit, basically in the exact same position for a very long amount of time. Your average gamer that may sit there for five hours at a time without moving, doesn't matter. Not incredibly healthy, but they aren't going to die from excessive blood clots from lack of circulation.

The article mentions that the man may not have moved for about three days, which is very realistic for this situation. The lowest amount of time I've heard of this happening before is about 60 hours. I imagine there would be enough clots (maybe only formation of, but still problematic) to put your life heavily at risk after about 20 hours though.

 

[trumpet-205]

Actually, the same thing can happen to those who are sitting at a wheel chair following a surgery. Blood clot tends to form from fixed body position.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Actually, the same thing can happen to those who are sitting at a wheel chair following a surgery. Blood clot tends to form from fixed body position.

That's why nurses and aides and such are supposed to move the persons body every couple of hours. It's a measure to prevent clots. If they are wheeling around the hospital like crazy after a surgery, somebody needs to get the person under control anyways.

 

[RoyalCardMan]

Guys, some medical knowledge - to die from a pulmonary embolism from just sitting there, you have to sit, basically in the exact same position for a very long amount of time. Your average gamer that may sit there for five hours at a time without moving, doesn't matter. Not incredibly healthy, but they aren't going to die from excessive blood clots from lack of circulation.

The article mentions that the man may not have moved for about three days, which is very realistic for this situation. The lowest amount of time I've heard of this happening before is about 60 hours. I imagine there would be enough clots (maybe only formation of, but still problematic) to put your life heavily at risk after about 20 hours though.

Um, excuse me, let me back up a bit.

Before even dying, the body would have passed out. It is like if you stood up with your knees locked. You would die if you stood like that for as long as I can't mention, but before that even happens the body forcefully makes you faint, letting the circulation flow.

So, I would have to say the person had some sort of illness for that matter.

Edit: And, when playing a video game, it is impossible to stay in the same exact position(unless you had something holding you there, which is unlikely). Let us say you were playing Halo. When playing the game, the body naturally moves around because of the feel of the game.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Guys, some medical knowledge - to die from a pulmonary embolism from just sitting there, you have to sit, basically in the exact same position for a very long amount of time. Your average gamer that may sit there for five hours at a time without moving, doesn't matter. Not incredibly healthy, but they aren't going to die from excessive blood clots from lack of circulation.

The article mentions that the man may not have moved for about three days, which is very realistic for this situation. The lowest amount of time I've heard of this happening before is about 60 hours. I imagine there would be enough clots (maybe only formation of, but still problematic) to put your life heavily at risk after about 20 hours though.

Um, excuse me, let me back up a bit.

Before even dying, the body would have passed out. It is like if you stood up with your knees locked. You would die if you stood like that for as long as I can't mention, but before that even happens the body forcefully makes you faint, letting the circulation flow.

So, I would have to say the person had some sort of illness for that matter.

No. You sit in a fixed position for too long, your blood isn't moving worth shit, except maybe to your fingers if you die via the story. You form the clots in other parts of your body, stand up, everything starts to flow at normal speed again (which is pretty damn fast), and you die quickly. Once those clots hit the wrong spot (you know, like your heart), you aren't going to last much longer.

 

[cwstjdenobs]

If they are wheeling around the hospital like crazy after a surgery, somebody needs to get the person under control anyways.

Some people don't make that very easy. And drugs can do funny things to peoples heads. Last time I was in for something the general anaesthetic just made me giggly and playful, didn't knock me out, but I know that's all they do to me. I absolutely refused to be wheeled anywhere, and because they told me everything was done when they left me at my bed I got myself dressed and walked home. No one even noticed I'd left until someone came to pick me up. Nobody thought of checking my house until the police had being searching for over half a day.

 

[RoyalCardMan]

Guys, some medical knowledge - to die from a pulmonary embolism from just sitting there, you have to sit, basically in the exact same position for a very long amount of time. Your average gamer that may sit there for five hours at a time without moving, doesn't matter. Not incredibly healthy, but they aren't going to die from excessive blood clots from lack of circulation.

The article mentions that the man may not have moved for about three days, which is very realistic for this situation. The lowest amount of time I've heard of this happening before is about 60 hours. I imagine there would be enough clots (maybe only formation of, but still problematic) to put your life heavily at risk after about 20 hours though.

Um, excuse me, let me back up a bit.

Before even dying, the body would have passed out. It is like if you stood up with your knees locked. You would die if you stood like that for as long as I can't mention, but before that even happens the body forcefully makes you faint, letting the circulation flow.

So, I would have to say the person had some sort of illness for that matter.

No. You sit in a fixed position for too long, your blood isn't moving worth shit, except maybe to your fingers if you die via the story. You form the clots in other parts of your body, stand up, everything starts to flow at normal speed again (which is pretty damn fast), and you die quickly. Once those clots hit the wrong spot (you know, like your heart), you aren't going to last much longer.

Please, give me a source. I would like to see the accurate article that actually says this.

Wait, whoa. Now your saying something totally different to what the article said. You just said if you then stood up you would die. There was nothing in the article that said that he stood up. It just said he sat there and then died.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Guys, some medical knowledge - to die from a pulmonary embolism from just sitting there, you have to sit, basically in the exact same position for a very long amount of time. Your average gamer that may sit there for five hours at a time without moving, doesn't matter. Not incredibly healthy, but they aren't going to die from excessive blood clots from lack of circulation.

The article mentions that the man may not have moved for about three days, which is very realistic for this situation. The lowest amount of time I've heard of this happening before is about 60 hours. I imagine there would be enough clots (maybe only formation of, but still problematic) to put your life heavily at risk after about 20 hours though.

Um, excuse me, let me back up a bit.

Before even dying, the body would have passed out. It is like if you stood up with your knees locked. You would die if you stood like that for as long as I can't mention, but before that even happens the body forcefully makes you faint, letting the circulation flow.

So, I would have to say the person had some sort of illness for that matter.

No. You sit in a fixed position for too long, your blood isn't moving worth shit, except maybe to your fingers if you die via the story. You form the clots in other parts of your body, stand up, everything starts to flow at normal speed again (which is pretty damn fast), and you die quickly. Once those clots hit the wrong spot (you know, like your heart), you aren't going to last much longer.

Please, give me a source. I would like to see the accurate article that actually says this.

Wait, whoa. Now your saying something totally different to what the article said. You just said if you then stood up you would die. There was nothing in the article that said that he stood up. It just said he sat there and then died.

I would imagine he would have to stand up, though he may have potentially been sitting in a place where he shifted enough that the clots could move. Also, do you expect the article to give you a play by play. It essentially just says that he played video games for three days straight and died. Not exactly reeling with valuable information there.

You want sources, go learn some common sense regarding circulation and blood clots.

 

[tbgtbg]

I don't know why, but I imagined some organization putting obscene/disturbing pictures on video game boxes just like the ones on cigarette packs now for "the safety of the people".

No, put them in the startup screen of the system, so you have to see them every time you play any game, just like those stupid seizure warnings on the DS and Wii.